Yes, it’s really interesting learning about all the differences in what we consider ‘basic’ ingredients isn’t it!!
That’s why this blog is such a wonderful source of information and sharing!

I’m no expert but here is my understanding:

- Wheaten Cornflour/Cornstarch (a very fine dust like white powdered wheat starch) is produced from food grade wheat flour and so DOES contain gluten.

- Corn Cornflour/Cornstarch (also a very very fine dust like white powder) is made from maize (corn) and is gluten-free.

- The term Cornflour was used interchangeably here for many years and more often than not the wheaten one was more prevalent.

- Either type could be called just ‘cornflour’ (go figure eh!!) Now though, especially as people with coeliac/Crohn’s are becoming more aware, you usually see the word “wheaten” or “100% corn” on the packet so you can tell them apart.

- Many custard powders of my childhood contained the wheaten variety of cornstarch although now most contain the corn variety.

It is worth noting that here in Australia you also need to be careful if you have extreme gluten issues as some baking powders contain ‘cornflour’ as a carrier but it’s often the wheaten variety.

Yes, as far as I’m aware, the cornflour I use is the same as US cornstarch and is made from maize. I also used rice flour once when I’d run out of cornflour, and that worked too. I have some potato starch in the cupboard, but I haven’t tried that one yet!

I use potato starch all the time for thickening pie fillings. I haven’t tried it in a cake yet, but I’ve seen Passover cake recipes that use it instead of cornstarch, so I think it would work.

Thanks everyone .

Carol, I will try that Madeira cake recipe. I tried one the other day that I found on the net, and it was very dry and not very nice!. It was more like bread than cake, so yes it seems to differ greatly from recipe to recipe.